Emma had barely entered the school gates the next morning when Hannah, Isi and Elle raced up to her. Isi, predictably, nearly knocked Emma down in her excitement.
‘You’ll never guess what has happened,’ cried Hannah.
‘It is the best thing ever!’ cried Elle.
‘It is so cool, so, so cool!’ shrieked Isi.
‘What?’ asked Emma. ‘What’s happened?’
And then everyone started talking at once.
‘It’s a competition,’ said Elle.
‘A music competition!’ shrieked Isi, once again getting herself rather worked up.
‘We’ve Got Talent,’ said Hannah.
‘Well, we are quite good,’ began Emma wondering why Hannah would suddenly declare how good she thought they were.
‘No, We’ve Got Talent is the competition! You know, like on TV. The school is having its own talent competition and we have to enter our band. We get to perform in front of the whole school,’ explained Hannah.
‘And our families are invited too,’ said Elle. ‘How good is that? It will be like we’re a real band, at a real concert.’
Emma looked at her friends. Hannah, Elle and Isi were beaming because they were all so excited at the thought of performing at the competition but Emma was worried. She loved playing with her friends but the idea of performing in front of lots of people scared her. What if she messed up the performance? What if she let her friends down? Emma still remembered the Kinder concert where everyone was singing, ‘If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands’. Everyone except Emma, who was not happy and was not clapping her hands. She had just stood there, mouth open, eyes wide with fright, staring out into the audience, not singing a word, and then bursting into tears, ruining the performance. She felt that she’d let everyone down then. Would she do it again at the talent competition? She would hate to let down her friends.
‘It’s a fantastic idea, don’t you think Em?’ said Isi.
‘Maybe we can wear the costumes we created at your house,’ said Elle. ‘We will rock!’
‘Yeah, it’s great,’ said Emma trying, rather unsuccessfully, to sound as thrilled as the others. But it was no good, she had to tell her friends. ‘Except what if I can’t do it?’ said Emma.
‘Do what?’ asked Elle.
‘The competition,’ replied Emma.
‘Why not, are you going to be away?’ asked Hannah looking confused.
‘No, I’ll be here but what if I can’t perform, you know, on stage in front of everyone. You guys are all so excited about it but I’m nervous that I’ll get stage fright and freeze and ruin it for us,’ said Emma, her eyes stinging a bit. Oh no, she thought, I am not going to cry as well, am I? What a baby!
Elle must have sensed her friend was getting a little upset because she put her arm around Emma.
‘Why wouldn’t you be able to do it, Em?’ asked Elle. ‘We play all the time and you love it.’ ‘And you’re great,’ said Hannah.
‘Yes, but then it’s just us. This is in front of the whole school,’ said Emma.
‘And all our families,’ piped in Isi.
‘Isi, that’s not helpful,’ said Hannah.
‘But Isi is right, there will be lots of people. What if I just freeze and mess everything up?’
‘But it’s no different from gym competition, is it? You don’t worry about people watching then,’ said Elle.
That was a good point and, typical of Elle to be so logical, but somehow it was just different. Emma couldn’t explain why.
The school bell went and the girls bounced into their classrooms, still bubbling with excitement. Only Emma was a little less bouncy than the rest of them.
At lunchtime, everyone was still talking about the talent competition. The entire school was completely obsessed with it and almost everybody was going to be performing. In the playground, everyone was arranging groups and talking about what they might do. Some kids were going to dance, some sing a song and some were going to do magic tricks. One boy was going to burp the entire alphabet.
‘That is so gross,’ announced Nema who had just flounced by. ‘Of course I don’t know why anyone else is bothering, or at least bothering to try winning the competition. I think we already know who is going to win.’
‘Oh really,’ said Nema, ‘I don’t think so, Dizzy.’
Dizzy was one of Isi’s nicknames; she got it because she was always running around so much that people thought she must get dizzy. Dizzy Isi. It was funny when her family and friends used it but Nema made it sound mean. Isi glared at Nema, who glared back.
‘Whatever,’ Nema said, ‘my band will just be too, too good, too pretty, too awesome. We should probably be going on the competition on television, not just this silly little school one.’
‘What’s your band called, Nema?’ asked Hannah.
‘Oh, I thought you knew, I thought everyone knew—Nema and the Nemettes.’ And with that, Nema flicked her hair and flounced off again.
‘Aarrgghh, that is so, so...’ Emma couldn’t find the words.
‘So Nema,’ suggested Hannah.
‘Exactly,’ laughed Emma. ‘Come on guys, let’s do our band practice.’
‘Her band should be called Nema and the Nasties,’ suggested Elle as they walked into the music room for their practice.
‘Yes! Or how about Nema and the Hair Flickers?’ said Isi, giggling.
Once in the music room, the girls quickly got their instruments set up and were soon ready to play.
‘So, what song should we play?’ asked Hannah.
‘How about “Rock ’n’ Shine”,’ suggested Elle. ‘We all love that one, don’t we?’
Everyone agreed and the girls began to play. Isi began with the really solid drumbeat that started the song, and then Hannah joined in on the bass guitar, building on the beat, holding the song together, solidly in the background. Just like Hannah really. Elle came in next on the keyboards, often adding new bits as she went along. Finally, Emma started in on lead guitar with the song tune. The girls all turned and smiled at each other as they played. It was such a buzz how the music all came together. They listened to each other and let each instrument and girl do its thing. Together they were fabulous. They played the song through to the end almost perfectly.
‘That was great,’ said Isi. ‘Who do you think should sing this one?’
‘Emma,’ said Elle. ‘She has the best voice for this song.’
‘Oh no, I don’t think so Elle,’ said Emma. ‘You do it. You’re the best performer by far.’
‘No, Elle’s right, Em,’ said Hannah. ‘You should sing it. It’s your favourite song and it seems just perfect for you.’
Emma gulped. Things were getting worse. Now she wasn’t just performing, her friends wanted her to be the lead singer. It was true she loved the song but that was singing it into her hairbrush, not on stage. Emma didn’t think she could do that. It would be like the Kinder concert all over again. She wouldn’t shine, she would just be hopelessly shy and mess everything up. And ruin her friends’ chance in the competition. Emma felt her eyes starting to sting. Again. Gee whizz, lemonfizz, this is getting embarrassing, thought Emma.
Piinngg!
Saved by the phone! It was a mission alert from SHINE.
‘Hey I have to go,’ said Emma looking up from her phone, ‘but don’t wait for me. I may be a while.’
Emma’s friends just smiled at Emma and at each other—they were used to her suddenly leaving. It was just one of those things that happened when your friend was a secret agent.